Damper regulator



June 14, 1938. J. R. OROURKE DAMPER REGULATOR Filed April 13, 1937 3Sheets-Sheet 1 23 O Zhwentor A J .s' E. OZmu/ce (Ittorngs,

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 W W MI Snnentor wh attorneys zzmm- M June 14, 1938. J.R. OROURKE DAMPER REGULATOR Filed April 13, 1957 June 14, 1938. J K2,120,506

DAMPER REGULATOR Filed April 13, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 '1 F -36 F .5 l 530 39 i l (Q? Zmventor 7 23 7 1722272195 25. 050w Patented June 14, 1938UNITE STATES ATENT OFFIQE DAMPER REGULATOR Application April 13, 1937,Serial No. 136,662

12 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in damper regulators, andmore particularly refers to a damper regulator for controllingautomatically the flow of free flowing granular ma- 5 terials in aspout. The invention is particularly applicable to the control of grainpassing through spouts from an elevator to a conveyor.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved damperregulator for spouts and the like in which the advantages of choke feedare improved and whereby the quantity of grain or other material thatcan be loaded from a spout onto a belt conveyor within a given time ismaterially increased.

15 A further object of the invention resides in providing an improveddraft regulator which substantially eliminates dust at the point wherethe grain or other material is loaded onto the conveyor.

' A still further object of the invention is to provide an improveddraft regulator which will eliminate wear in the spout and require thegrain to travel slowly and in contact with substantially all surfaces ofthe spout.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be morefully described hereinafter and will be more particularly pointed out inthe claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to 30 like or correspondingparts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a vertical fragmentary section taken through parts of thegrain elevator showing the spout thereof with the improved damper andits regulator applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 22 in Figure 1 andwith parts broken away.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side view of a portion of the spout with partsbroken away and parts shown in section and with the improved regulatorshown in side view.

Figure 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section taken through the regulatorcylinder.

Figure 5 is a transverse section taken on the 45 line 55 in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 66 inFigure 2.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary horizontal section taken on the line '!'l inFigure 6. 50 Figure 8 is a vertical transverse section taken on the line88 in Figure 3, and

Figure 9 is a longitudinal section on a somewhat reduced scale over thatshown in Figure 4 of the regulator cylinder showing the supple- 55mentary by-pass.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, and to Figure Iparticularly, the improved device is shown in connection with a systemof grain handling equipment in a grain elevator. Such elevator consistsgenerally of the hopper or bin It at the bottom of which there is thevalve H. Below the valve 5 l is the spout l2, the upper end of which isenlarged to form a hopper l3. The spout l2 may be of any size, shape orconstruction of closed spout for conducting grain or --10 othermaterial. At the lower end of the spout I2 is a loading hopper i l forloading the grain or other material onto a belt or other conveyor l5.

In the spout l2 at a point just above the loading hopper M is a slidinggate it having a handi piece I! for hand operation. This gate is shownmore particularly in Figures 2, 6 and '7.

The gate can be maintained in any desired position from fully closed towide open by the keepers l8. In the spout l2 just above this gate I6 isa damper l9 suspended in the top of the spout from a shaft 26 moreparticularly shown in Figures 2, 3 and 8. The damper is affixed to theshaft in any appropriate manner whereby the turning of the shaft willcause the damper to assume any desired angular position in the spoutbetween an entirely closed position and a wide open position.

The purpose of the invention is to automatically control the position ofthe damper 19 in 30 the spout l2 and thereby regulate the flow of grainor other material between the bin I1! and the belt conveyor i 5. Thepurpose of the damper I9 is to cause the grain or other material in thespout ii to be held under a choke feed, that is, to be held back so thatthere will always be a full flow of grain or other material in the spoutl2 until the bin It) is empty. When operated under choke feed. the grainor other material in the spout l2 entirely fills the spout, movesuniformly down the spout, and feeds uniformly and slowly through theloading hopper l4 onto the belt or other conveyor [5, thereby increasingthe quantity of grain or other material that can be loaded from a spoutonto a belt conveyor in any given interval of time.

The choke feed also eliminates dust at a point where the grain or othermaterial is loaded onto the conveyor. The choke feed also eliminatesWear in the spout l2 because the grain or other material under the chokefeed travels slowly and in contact with all surfaces of the spout;whereas when flowing freely without choke feed the grain or othermaterial wears the spout away rapidly.

In order to improve the choke feed and to covered by a disc valve 40.

maintain at all times a properly restricted port area at the damper totake care of all sorts of materials and of the pressure and volume inwhich they are fed down the hopper I2, I provide a damper regulator.This regulator includes a cylinder 2|, shown more particularly inFigures 4, 5 and 9, such cylinder being closed at its lower end forinstance by the end cap or head 22 having a bearing 23 through which apin 24 passes for the purpose of swivelly supporting the cylinder 2|upon a bracket 25. The bracket is affixed, as shown in Figures 2 and 3,to a wall 26 of the grain elevator or to other appropriate support. Thecylinder 2| is also closed at its upper end by an end cap or cylinderhead 21 having a stuifing box 28 therein through which reciprocates thepiston rod 29. Within the cylinder 2|, the rod 29 connects with aplunger or piston 30 mounted to reciprocate within the cylinder.

The piston rod 29 is connected at the upper 'endthrough a pin and link3! to a lever arm 32 which is keyed to the damper shaft 2!). Thisconstruction is best seen in Figures 2 and 3. Keyed to the same dampershaft 2|] is a second lever arm 33 on which there is adjustablypositioned a counter-weight 34 whereby the weight may be set in anyposition along the arm 33 with reference to the shaft 20 whereby tochange the leverage of the counter-weighting action.

A by-pass pipe 35 connects the two ends of the cylinder 2| as best seenin Figure 4. In the by-pass there is an adjustable cock 35. A second orsupplemental by-pass pipe 3! connects the top of the cylinder 2| with aport 33 in the side of the cylinder located an appreciable distanceabove the lower end of such cylinder. The bypass 31 and port 38 areshown more particularly in Figure 9. 7

As shown more particularly in Figure 4, the piston 30 has a number ofholes 'or passages 39 therein opening through the upper and lower facesof the piston. These holes 39 are normally The disc valve 49 is slidableup and down .on the piston rod 29 toward and from a closed positionagainst the ports or holes 39.

The disc valve 40 is normally and yieldably urged to a closed positionagainst the upper face of the plunger 30 by a coil spring 3|, the loadof which may be adjusted by a set nut 42 threaded upon a threadedportion of the piston rod 29. The cylinder is filled with fluid. Areservoir or oil cup 43 contains a reserve supply of fluid .and connectswith the upper portion of the cylinder 2| by a pipe 44 by which thereservoir 43 may be supported from the cylinder. It will be understoodthat fluid in the cylinder 2| is gradually lost due to operation, thelosses occurring around the piston rod while in operation. The cup 43 isprovided with a ball check valve 45 acting to automatically open toreplace fluid in the cylinder 2| whenever the condition of fluid thereinfalls below the value of the load of the spring of the ball check valve45.

In operation, when there is no grain or other material flowing in thespout I2, the counterweight 34 on the lever 33 will operate by gravityto move the damper l9 to a closed position, as shown in Figure 3. Thepiston 39 is at this time at the bottom of the cylinder 2|. When grainor other material is put into the spout l2, the weight of the grainacting against the damper l9 tends to force the damper upwardly, raisingcounter-weight 34 and also raising piston 30 in the cylinder 2|.

As the piston 30 moves up it diminishes the space in the cylinder 2|above such piston 30, which space is the upper chamber of the cylinder.Accordingly, the fluid is driven out of this upper chamber through theby-pass 35 past the cock 5 36 and into the lower chamber of the cylinder2| below the piston 30, the upper movement of which tends to create apartial vacuum in the lower chamber to assist the propelling action inthe upper chamber, both forces contributing to the circulation of thefluid through the by-pass 35 to the lower chamber of the cylinder 2|.

It will be understood that the cook 36 is adjustable. The rate at whichfluid may pass through the by-pass 35 and permit the piston to be raisedand the damper to be opened is therefore controllable. Now when thepiston 30 is in the lower part of the cylinder 2| the port 38 of thesupplemental by-pass 31 communicates with the upper chamber of thecylinder. Therefore this supplemental by-pass does not function untilthe piston 30 has moved the required distance upwardly to pass such port38 and to unmasknthe port 38 into communication with the lower chamberof the cylinder 2|. Thereupon fluid s begins to flow through thesupplementary bypass 31 from the upper chamber downwardly into the lowerchamber. In this way the exchange of fluid from the upper to the lowerchamber is accelerated and the damper l9 may open Wider atn anaccelerated speed. The cock 36 will be adjusted experimentally so thatthe spout l2 will.be entirely filled with grain before the damper 19 isentirely open. The weight of the grain in the spout l2 will continue tohold the damper |9e35 open until the grain in the spout is entirelyexhausted. The maximum rate of flow may be controlled by the propersetting of the slide gate Hi.

When the grain in the spout I2 is exhaustedoaio it is desirable that thedamper I9 close quickly in order to be in the closed position when thenext draft of grain or other material is turned into the spout l2. Thecounter-weight 34 tends to close the damper l9 whenever pressure of thegrain issg5 relieved, and in so doing causes piston to move downwards inthe cylinder 2 To facilitatespeed in the closing of the damper I9, theports 39 are provided in the piston 30. On the downward movement of thepiston 30 in the cylinder 2| the cm pressure of the fluid in the lowerchamber .exerted through the ports 39 upon the under face of the discvalve will exceed the load of the spring 4| and this pressure willrequire the opening of the disc valve which is of less diameter than thecylinder 2| whereby such fluid escaping upwardly through the ports 39may flow about the edges of the disc valve 40 and .freely into the upperchamber of the cylinder 2|.

Therefore the descent of the piston 30 mam-r 0 take place rapidlywithout substantial interference from the fluid pressure; whereas theupper movement of the piston will require that the fluid pressure bereceived upon the top surface of the disc valve 4|! thus adding thefluidac5 pressure to the expansive action of the spring 4| in tending toclose, and maintain in a closed position, the disc valve 4!! against theports 39. While the piston 30 is descending in the cylinder 2| the fluidalso passes from the lower chamber 'm upwardly through the by-pass 35.For a portion of the descending movement of the piston 30 fluid willalso be forced from the lower chamber to the upper chamber throughby-pass 31. When, however, the piston 30 reaches a position opt5 7 to,and desirable in, a grain elevator, especially in connection with theweighing of grain in hopper scales. In Figure l the bin [0 may be ascale hopper in which grain is weighed in carload lots and dischargedthrough spout [2 at frequent intervals. It is also desirable in anyclosed spout carrying free flowing granular materials where materialsare discharged at the open end of the spout for loading onto beltconveyors or for discharging to other devices.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in thedetails of con struction and design of the above specifically describedembodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof,such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of thefollowing claims:

What is claimed is:--

1. In combination with a closed grain spout, a movable damper thereinopened by the movement of the material through the spout, adjustablemeans tending to close said damper and to hold the damper closed untilthe spout is sub stantially full of grain, and a regulator coupled tosaid damper for slowing and restricting the opening movement thereof.

2. In combination with a closed grain spout, a movable damper thereinopened by the movement of the material through the spout, means tendingto close said damper, an adjustable regulator coupled to the damper andregulatable to permit opening of the damper only when the spout issubstantially full of grain, said regulator comprising a cylinder, apiston movably mounted in the cylinder and dividing the cylinder intoopposed chambers, and a by-pass connecting said chambers.

3. In combination with a closed spout for granular material, a movabledamper therein opened by the movement of the material through the spout,means tending to close said damper until the closed spout istransversely full of grain, a regulator coupled to the damper andcomprising a cylinder, a piston movably mounted in the cylinder anddividing the cylinder into opposed chambers, a by-pass connecting saidchambers, and means in the by-pass for regulating the flow volumetherethrough.

4. In combination with a closed spout containing granular material, amovable damper therein opened by the movement of the material throughthe spout, means tending to close said damper when the spout is notsubstantially full of grain, a regulator coupled to the damper andcomprising a cylinder, a piston movably mounted in the cylinder anddividing the cylinder into opposed chambers, a by-pass connecting saidchambers, and a supplemental by-pass of shorter length than the firstmentioned by-pass controlled by the position of said piston to place thesecond by-pass in communication with both opposed chambers of thecylinder.

5. In combination with a closed spout containing granular material, amovable damper therein opened by the movement of the material throughthe spout, means tending to close said damper, means for adjusting theclosing action of said last named means to maintain the damper in closedposition except when the spout is substantially full of grain, aregulator coupled to the damper and comprising a cylinder, a pistonmovably mounted in the cylinder and dividing the cylinder intoopposedchambers, a by-pass connecting said chambers, asupplementalby-pass connecting with the upper portion of the cylinder and with apoint spaced appreciably above the lower end of the cylinder wherebysuch supplemental by-pass will only establish communication between theopposed chambers of the cylinder after the piston has traveled aninitial distance upwardly in said cylinder.

6. In combination with a closed spout containing granular material, amovable damper therein opened by the movement of the material throughthe spout, means tending to close said damper, adjusting means for thedamper closing means whereby to cause closing of the damper except whenthe spout is substantially full of grain, a draft regulator comprising acylinder, a piston therein having ports therethrough, and a one wayopening valve for said ports.

'7. In combination with a closed spout containing granular material, amovable damper therein opened by the movement of the material throughthe spout, means tending to close said damper, adjustable meansassociated with said damper closing means adapted to be adjusted toretain the damper closed until grain collects in a substantially solidmass filling the cross-section of the spout, a draft regulatorcomprising a cylinder, 2, piston therein coupled to move with saiddamper, said piston having ports completely therethrough, a disc overthe upper portion of said piston for covering said ports, spring meansfor holding said disc against said ports, and means for adjusting theload of said spring means.

8. In combination with a closed spout normally containing granularmaterial, a movable damper therein opened by the movement of thematerial through the spout, means tending to close said damper,adjusting means for the damper closing means adapted to be set up toresist opening of the damper except upon a full spout, a draft regulatorcomprising a cylinder, a piston therein coupled to said damper andmovable conjointly therewith, said pistons having ports therethrough, adisc valve of less diameter than said cylinder lying freely on top ofsaid piston, spring means normally urging said disc valve against saidports, and. means for regulating the load of said disc valve.

9. In combination with a closed spout normally containing granularmaterial, a movable damper therein opened by the movement of thematerial through the spout, means tending to close said damper,adjusting means for the damper closing means adapted to be regulated tomaintain the damper closed except upon a substantially full spout, adraft regulator comprising a cylinder closed at both ends, a pistonmounted for reciprocation in said cylinder, a piston rod coupled to saidpiston and having connection to said damper, said piston dividing thecylinder into upper and lower chambers, a by-pass connecting the upperand lower chambers, a valve in said by-pass, a second supplementalby-pass connecting with the upper portion of the cylinder and with anintermediate point therein above the lower end of the cylinder, saidpiston having ports therethrough, and valve means for yieldably closingsaid ports when the piston travels upwardly and opening the ports whenthe piston travels downwardly.

10. In combination with a spout, a movable damper therein opened by themovement of the material through the spout, means tending to close saiddamper, a regulator for said damper, and anindependently-operable gateadjacent 'saiddamper for regulating-generally the volume of flow in thespout. i

11. In an apparatus for transferring granular material from a bin to aconveyor in a grain elevator, a closed spout through which the granularmaterial is adapted to gravitationally flow from the bin to theconveyor, a damper in said closed spout, means 'for movably mountingsaid damper in the spout, means for biasing said damper to a closedposition, and regulating means acting conjointly With the damper closingmeans for retaining the damper substantially closed against afree-running grain and until the closed chute is substantially filledwith the grain.

12. In an apparatus for transferring granular material from a bin to aconveyor in a grain elevator, a closed spout through'which the granularmaterial is adapted to gravitationally flow from the bin to theconveyor, a damper in said closed spout, means for movably mounting saiddamper in the spout, means for biasing said damper to a closedposition,- regulating means acting conjointly with the damper closingmeans for retaining the damper substantially closed against afree-running grain and until the closed chute is substantially filledwith the grain, said regulating means including means to resisttheinitial opening action of the damper to a higher degree than the finalopening of the damper and also including means for permitting of. a morerapid closing of the damper than of the opening movement thereof wherebyto promptly shut off the flow of free-running grain when the closedspout is not filled throughout its diameter.

JAMES R. OROURKE.

